Saturday, October 10, 2009

'Beschreibung der Reise von Konstanz nach Jerusalem' [1487] (Description of a journey from Konstanz* to Jerusalem] records in diary form the pilgrimage undertaken by the German knight (as well as town mayor and architect), Konrad von Grünenberg*.

I'm 100% sure the last full city illustration above is Jerusalem and I would bet someone's good money that the first city above is Rhodes (the stylised windmills give it away: compare to Hartmann Schedel's illustration of Rhodes from a few years later from the famous 'Liber Chronicarum'{a book that will one day be the subject of its own post on BibliOdyssey}).

In other words, the pilgrimage diary of von Grünenberg ("green mountain") is a very significant manuscript both in terms of historical urban geography and also because it is an early form of travel literature, a genre that would rise to prominence some two centuries later. [via]

I'd be glad if you could send me some valid information about the library, signature and provinience of this manuscript. I'm working together with a historian with some deep interest for Konrad Grünenberg. Although I'm quite sure she's already seen this I can't know for certain and would like to pass the information on to her.

Thank you.

And by the way, yes, it is beautiful. Where did you get those professional scans from? Anyone working with mansucripts knows how hard it can be sometimes to get a clear shot of them, and those are perfectly done.

Definitely Jerusalem...I love how so much emphasis in much medieval art was placed on imagination rather than accuracy, and yet there's such a compact, concise "feeling" of each city. Long before you pick out the different details, you get a clear sense of place.

Why yes, the first city is Rhodes, since it bears the name "RODIS" in red letters (a term also used in middle english sources).

The second city is very probably Jerusalem: a first glance reveals not only references to the jews (center bottom: "fliehhend (?) die Juden" "sie ward mit gefangen" — translation: "fleeing: the Jews" "she was captured alongside");moreover, the church to the right of the crest (right of the minaret bearing the crescent moon) is labeled "der heilig Tempel darin das heilig Grab ist" (the holy temple wherein the holy grave lies) — a clear reference to the holy grave in the Curch of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.